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Networking Fundamentals · Foundational

Latency

The time it takes for data to travel from source to destination, usually measured in milliseconds.

Definition

Latency is the sum of propagation delay (distance), transmission or serialization delay (packet size divided by link speed), processing delay and queuing delay. High latency degrades interactive applications and limits TCP throughput. Geostationary satellite links add roughly 600 ms or more of round-trip latency.

Example

A ping reporting time=35ms shows a 35 ms round-trip latency.

Exam tip

Low-earth-orbit satellite services have far lower latency than geostationary satellite; check which one the question means.

Don't confuse it with

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